The owl that Deportivo Pereira's Panamaian defender Luis Moreno kicked after it landed on the field during a game against Atletico Junior has died.

"We demand that Dimayor [the Colombian league] and Deportivo Perreira immediately sever ties with this player. No excuse is enough, it's an act that has no justification whatsoever," said Marcela Ramirez, president of Colombia's Society for the Protection of Animals.

The owl was one of many that live on the roof of Barranquilla Metropolitan Stadium and fly over the field before games. They are considered good luck charms by Atletico Junior fans, who chanted “killer, killer” after Moreno viciously kicked the owl about three yards. Colombian animal cruelty laws can punish offenders with up to three months in jail, which is the sentence many are calling for Moreno to receive.

"It wasn't my intention to hit the animal," said Moreno, "What I tried to do was wake it up so it could fly."